Newspapers Set To Jointly Sell Ads on Web Sites

NEWSPAPERS SET TO JOINTLY SELL ADS ON WEB SITES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Julia Angwin julia.angwin@wsj.com]
The nation's three largest newspaper publishers are gearing up to sell advertising jointly on their newspapers' Web sites, believing their survival depends on seizing new online revenue. Gannett Co., McClatchy Co. and Tribune Co. are planning to offer advertisers one-stop shopping for display ads on Internet sites. The goal is to attract big advertisers such as car makers and phone companies that want to reach a nationwide online audience but don't want the hassle of negotiating ad deals with each company or newspaper. The joint effort, code-named "Open Network," marks a big new bid to win back advertisers that are defecting in droves to the Web. Currently, national advertisers buy the bulk of their online display ads -- banners and boxes -- from big portals such as Yahoo Inc., Time Warner Inc.'s AOL or Microsoft Corp.'s MSN. Yahoo has announced plans to work with seven other newspaper publishers to build a similar one-stop-shopping spot for advertisers. Google Inc. has also reaped a bonanza with advertising links that appear next to search results. The three newspaper companies, known in the industry as GMT, are likely to each contribute 10% of their online-advertising space to the network, according to people familiar with the situation. They hope to announce something early this year, although the deal isn't finalized and could still fall apart.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116840247170572327.html?mod=todays_us_pa...
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